Putting Parental Pushback in Context: A Comparative Case Study of a School District’s Gender Policy-As-Practice

This study examines the formation and implementation of the New York City Department of Education’s Gender Guidelines. Drawing on 41 interviews with policymakers, professional development providers, and school staff, as well as policy documents and media sources, we examine how marked fears of pushback influenced policy formation and shaped how schools interpreted and took up the policy. The case of NYC offers a valuable example of how policies can leverage pushback and motivate positive school cultural change when they incorporate the appropriate human and material resources to scaffold whole-school deliberation and conciliatory processes. Ultimately, we argue that policy stakeholders would benefit from carefully attending to the roots and nuances of parents’ dissenting perspectives throughout the formation and implementation of gender policies